While some studios continued churning out comedy shorts, a growing number were producing full-length features. Some of these followed the more established pattern of dramatizing current social problems, while others tried to capitalize on audiences' appetite for entertainments, especially of the mystery/adventure genre. Five new studios made their debut in 1924: Baihe (Lotus), Changcheng (Great Wall), Da Zhonghua (Great China), Dalu (Mainland) and Xin Zhonghua (New China), joining established studios Mingxing (Star) and the Commercial Press. Altogether, these studios turned out 14 features in 1924, of which 12 are of particular note:
Aiguo San (1924) 爱国伞 (Patriotic Umbrella)
alternate title: Ai Yu Renge 爱与人格 (Love and Personality)
Commercial Press. Suspense. 8 reels. Premiered September 15, 1924 at the Empire theater in Shanghai. Direction and Screenplay: Ren Pengnian. Cinematography: Zhou Shimu. Principal cast: Zhu Zhuying (Tian Qiufang), Zhang Huichong (Wang Minsheng), Wang Fuqing, Zhang Xijuan, Chen Lilian, Gao Lihen.
In a time of concern about growing foreign domination of China's economy, two patriotic young couples employed by an umbrella factory uncover evidence that an unscrupulous businessman is plotting with a foreign cartel to illegally export scarce commodities. They work to expose and smash the plot, although one of them is caught and imprisoned by the businessman's thugs. The two couples' romantic relationships also play out against this background.
*
Cai Cha Nü (1924) 采茶女 (The Tea-Picking Girl)
Baihe Film Co. Romance. 9 reels. Premiered September 1, 1924 at the Olympic. Direction: Xu Hu. Screenplay: Zhu Shouju. Cinematography: Jingguangfu+. Cast: Yang Naimei (Qian Yunqin), Lin Xuehai (Du Baiqun), Zhuang Chanzhen (Bao Susu), Wen Shaohua (Bao Yuweng). Also: Wang Xieyan.
A rich widow's daughter (Yang Naimei) desires a handsome young man, but his heart belongs to a poor tea-picking girl. The rich girl devotes herself to trying to break up their romance, even bribing the young man's father to help her in the effort. A mysterious wealthy woman arrives, and helps the lovers get together. It turns out she is the poor girl's long-lost elder sister.
+indicates Chinese transliteration of foreign name, actual name unknown.
*
Didi (1924) 弟弟 (Younger Brother)
Shanghai Film Company. Drama. 9 reels. Premiered September 29, 1924 at the Olympic. Direction and Screenplay: Dan Duyu. Cinematography: Dan Duyu, Dan Ganting. Cast: Dan Erting, He Rongzhu.
Two brothers live together. The younger is a good-hearted student, the elder a gambler. After the gambler marries, his wife cruelly drives the younger brother from the home. He is saved from starvation by a street flower-seller named Lotus. Zhao, an aristocratic gambling buddy of the elder brother, steals a diamond from his sister Yingzi to pay the men's debts, but loses the money in the street. The younger brother finds the money, and with no way of knowing who lost it, he takes it back to Lotus. The young couple use it to start a clothing business, which prospers. When the elder brother's wife steals all her husband's funds and runs off with another man, her husband wanders the streets, where he is found by his younger brother, who takes the elder back to the home he shares with Lotus. But once inside, the elder steals money from the couple and runs away. The younger searches for him, and finds the elder brother being beaten up by Zhao, who wants the stolen money. After he is rescued the elder brother tearfully admits his past mistakes, and confesses where the lost money originally came from. The younger brother and Lotus return the money to Yingzi, who is so impressed by their honesty she invests it in their business, which now prospers even more.
*
Hao Xiongdi (1924) 好兄弟 (My Dear Brother)
Commercial Press. Drama. 10 reels. Premiered July 17, 1924 at the Olympic. Direction: Ren Pengnian. Screenplay: Yang Xiaozhong. Cinematography: Zhou Shimu. Cast: Zhang Huichong (Cao Kangcheng), Wang Fuqing (Cao Kangdao), Ma Zhiqing (Feilan), Zhang Xijuan (Shen Zhiying).
Two brothers fall for the same girl, but when she chooses the younger (Zhang Huichong), the elder brother (Wang Fuqing) turns to drink and dissipation. The younger brother decides to sacrifice his love and his life for his brother, but his suicide note moves the elder brother to stop him in time. The two reconcile, and the elder brother decides to straighten up and find another love.
*
Ku Er Ruo Nü (1924) 苦儿弱女 (The Poor Children)
literal English title: Pitiful Son, Weak Daughter
Mingxing. B&W. Drama. 10 reels. Premiered February 21, 1924 at the Embassy. Direction: Zhang Shichuan. Screenplay: Zheng Zhengqiu. Cinematography: Wang Xuchang. Cast: Wang Hanlun, Zheng Zhengqiu, Yang Naimei, Zheng Xiaoqiu, Zheng Zhegu, Wang Xianzhai.
When a poor widow (Wang Hanlun) dies, her son (Zheng Xiaoqiu) indentures himself as a bondservant to a wealthy family in order to bury his mother. In the home, he befriends an older girl in a similar situation. She is frequently mistreated, but the boy is powerless to help. An evil older servant (Wang Xianzhai) steals from the family and frames the children for the crime. The family attorney, aware of what has been going on, boldly steps forward and successfully defends them in court. He then adopts the boy and girl and sends them to school.
*
Qier (1924) 弃儿 (The Abandoned Child)
Shanghai Film Co. Drama. 8 reels. Premiered January 24, 1924 at the Shenjiang. Direction and Cinematography: Dan Duyu. Screenplay: Zhu Shouzhu. Cast: Dan Erchun (the abandoned child), He Jingzhu (Huizhu). Also: Chen Poyun, Jing Guangrun, Han Yunzhen, He Rongzhu.
A wealthy family's wastrel scion secretly marries and has a baby boy with a poor girl, but later abandons her. To hurt her, he takes the baby, intending to abandon it in the wilds to die of exposure. But before he can do so, a contract killer hired by one his many enemies kills the father and takes the baby. From this point the film becomes somewhat derivative of Dickens's "Oliver Twist." The title character is taken in by a band of robbers who train him as an apprentice thief, planting him as a servant in the households of wealthy families, where he helps them gain entry to burglarize the homes. Eventually the child ends up in the home of his father's family, where his mother is now a servant. But the family is so kind to the child he foils this burglary. After this, family resemblances are recognized, mother and son reunited, and the boy restored to his rightful place as the family heir.
* Qifu (1924) 弃妇 (The Divorcee)
alternate English title: (Discarded Wife)
[left, ordered from the family home]
Changcheng (Great Wall) Film Co. Tragedy. 11 reels. Premiered December 22, 1924 at the Victoria. Direction: Li Zeyuan, Hou Yao. Screenplay: Hou Yao, adapted from his stage play of the same name. Cinematography: Cheng Peilin. Principal cast: Wang Hanlun (Zhifang), Gan Yushi (Wang Qiwei), Hu Caixia (Cailan).
[right, facing the most uncertain of futures]
The scion of a a wealthy family takes a prostitute as his mistress, then divorces his wife Zhilan (Wang Hanlun), a young woman never accepted by the family because of her having an education. When she refuses to remain in the household as a servant, she is driven from the home, taking with her Cailan (Hu Caixia), a servant she had brought to the home as part of her dowry. Zhilan finds work at a publishing house, but her boss's constant harassment drives her to quit. She joins China's fledgling feminist movement, and becomes president of an association working for political rights for women. Then her ex-husband reappears, demanding she come back to him. When Zhilan refuses, he slanders her as having deserted him to join a rebel group. Her possessions are confiscated and she is forced to flee and hide out in the mountains. Finally, she falls seriously ill, and as the faithful Cailan holds her hand, Zhilan dreams of women having full political participation, then dies.
*
Renxin (1924) 人心 (Public Opinion)
alternate English title: Human Feelings
Da Zhonghua (Great China). Drama. 10 reels. Premiered October 10, 1924 at the Carlton Theater. Direction: Gu Kenfu, Chen Shouyin. Screenplay: Lu Jie. Cinematography: Bu Wancang. Cast: Wang Yuanlong (Xu Zixin), Zhang Zhiyun (Zhang Liying), Xu Sue (Xu Yueyun). Also: Zhao Chen, Mei Shu, Lu Ruoyan.
[below, a husband tells his wife they must part]
Without his father's knowledge, a factory owner's son (Mei Shu) secretly marries a poor girl (Zhang Zhiyun), and the couple have a daughter. When the father finds out, he angrily forces the two to break up, which causes them much unhappiness. Later, when striking factory workers begin to riot, it is Liying who alerts a nearby army post to send troops and put down the disturbance. The remorseful factory owner relents, and agrees to the couple reuniting.
COMMENT:
The filmmakers were clearly conflicted in producing this. On the one hand, like such earlier films as Victims of Opium it exposed the brutality of China's feudal patriarchical system and advocated marital freedom of choice. It also dramatized the sufferings of the exploited and underpaid factory workers, whose demands for living wages were ignored, and were locked out of the factory when they went on strike. Finally, their desperate rioting was put down by a military force called out by the plant management. But on the other hand, the film concluded with a happy ending for the lovers, enabled by the young wife's collaborating against the strikers.
This was the first movie from the Da Zhonghua studio, eight months in production, and it must have been done on a huge scale. It was also the first Chinese film to describe striking workers and rioting. As its writer Lu Jie wrote in a contemporary magazine article, describing an actual factory riot he had drawn on for inspiration:
"When the riot erupted, thousands of workers swarmed into the factory, cutting power lines and clashing with police. Chaos was everywhere. Some workers, finding the plant's main gate blocked, swam across the river to attack the rear entrance."
--Lu Jie, "After adapting 'Ren Xin'," Movie Magazine, No.6, 1924.
*
Shui Huo Yuanyang (1924) 水火鸳鸯 (A Couple Through Water and Fire)
Dalu (Mainland). Romance. 10 reels. Premiered December 8, 1924 at the Olympic. Direction: Cheng Bugao. Screenplay: Zhou Shoujuan. Cinematography: Zhang Weitao. Cast: Wang Manli, Wang Xiaoda, Lu Yunzhen.
A young man devoted to painting rescues a girl who has fallen from a boat into a river, then later saves some valuable heirlooms when a fire breaks out in her family's home. The young couple fall in love, but her father opposes their marriage unless and until the young man succeeds in some other career. He applies himself to business, is successful, and the father approves the match.
While this very ordinary story seems to have little to recommend it, the film is notable because of its casting: all roles in the film were portrayed by child actors, averaging about 10 years of age.
*
Xiayi Shaonian (1924) 侠义少年 (Chivalrous Youth)
Xin Zhonghua (New China) Film Co. Mystery, Adventure. 10 reels. Premiered September 29, 1924 at the Empire. Direction: Fu Shunnan. Cast: Zhao Yongli, Fu Nanping, Bao Yuqing, Bao Yueqing.
When young Wang Xian returns home after college graduation, he is shocked to discover his father, outwardly a distinguished and respectable publisher, is actually a traitor, working with foreigners against China's interests. When he rebukes his father for this, the shamed and remorseful elder man suffers a fatal relapse of an old ailment. But before he dies, the father tells his son that the source of their fortune, the newspaper, was obtained by his having cheated Zhang, his former partner. Wang Xian goes to see the Zhangs, hoping to work something out, where he finds eldest daughter Weiliang, who controls the Zhang finances, to be a playgirl squandering her family's wealth. Meanwhile the Zhangs' son is conspiring with gangsters to secure that money. Eventually, Weiliang is murdered, and younger daughter Mulian is abducted by the gang, then pressured to sign her rights over to her brother. But Wang Xian helps Mulian escape, and they flee for their safety. On the run, the two young people fall in love. After some perilous adventures and hardships, things are resolved and the couple make plans to marry.
*
You Hun (1924) 诱婚 (Lured Into Marriage)
alternate title: Aiqing yu Xurong 爱情与虚荣 (Love and Vanity)
Mingxing (Star). 12 reels. Direction: Zhang Shichuan. Screenplay: Zhou Jianyun. Cinematography: Wang Xuchang, Dong Keyi. Cast: Zheng Zhengqiu (Gao Zemin), Maxu Weibang (Shi Feicheng), Huang Junfu (Xiao Liu, the naive servant), Yang Naimei (Gao Yunying), Ying Bichen (Gao's wife), Zheng Zhegu (banquet guest), Wang Xianzhai (Xiong, the celebrity).
*
Yu Li Hun (1924) 玉梨魂 (The Soul of Yu Li)
alternate English title: The Death of Yu Li
Mingxing (Star). Tragedy. 10 reels. Premiered September 11, 1924 at the Embassy Theater in Shanghai. Direction: Zhang Shichuan, Xu Hu. Screenplay: Zheng Zhengqiu, adapted from the novel of the same title by Xu Zhenya (1889-1937). Cast: Wang Hanlun (widow Li), Wang Xianzhai (He Mengxia), Yang Naimei (Cui Yunqian), Zheng Zhegu (Qin Shichi), Huang Junfu (Fang Dayuan), Ren Chaojun (Cui Penglang).
[discussed in an earlier post]
